


Lights

by DarthYautja



Category: RWBY
Genre: Established Relationship, F/F, Fluff, Future Fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-27
Updated: 2018-03-27
Packaged: 2019-04-13 12:52:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 846
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14112753
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarthYautja/pseuds/DarthYautja
Summary: Penny and Ruby share a special evening in Atlas.





	Lights

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by Season 3, Episode 8 of RWBY Chibi.

Nineteen-year-old Ruby Rose lay on a couch, lost in thoughts. She was in a small but luxurious suite her girlfriend’s father had had prepared for them to use while on vacation in Atlas. The suite sat atop the main building of Polendina Laboratories, a sprawling complex located on the western edge of the Capital. If Ruby looked out the windows she could she the bustle of technicians and researchers moving about, despite the chill of the winter’s evening. However, the young Huntress had other concerns.

Foremost was how her girlfriend was stuck in another interminable meeting. Every time Penny returned to Atlas she was summoned to meetings by the highest officials of the kingdom. And it was always the same subject: how did General Ironwood and Doctor Polendina justify letting a top-secret military project decide its own course? Why weren’t safeguards in place to protect the investment of resources, especially at a rebuilding, and obviously failed, school like Beacon? And given how this prototype had failed in field testing before the War had truly begun, what reason was there to allow its continued operation?

Time and again Penny would be forced to listen as her father and General Ironwood browbeat the gathered officials into letting her speak. Time and again she would be forced to explain that though she was created in a laboratory, she was her own person with free will. That she preferred Vale to Atlas. That she had made genuine friends, not just the ones she was ordered to spend time with. And time and again, the deadlocked meeting came down the bitter, petty malice of one man.

Jacques Schnee had never forgiven either of his daughters from escaping his control. Had never forgiven General Ironwood for a Dust export embargo that had stopped the War from being far worse. Had never forgiven Team RWBY for leading the army of the Reclaimed White Fang in a successful defense of Atlas. Had never forgiven the rise of the Gayl Dust Company from Vacuo, nor the resulting diminishment of his own global influence. An international spotlight had forced him to alter his business practices, and he had directed his still vast wealth towards whatever vengeance he could. The constant threat to Penny’s freedom was just one aspect of it.

Ruby bristled. Neither Weiss nor Blake would set foot in Atlas outside of business because of that man. Yang probably wouldn’t either out of solidarity, but her duties as the Spring Maiden required her be ready to travel anywhere on Remnant necessary. And even though this vacation was just for her and Penny, Ruby found herself lonely as the minutes dragged by.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the welcome sound of the door opening. She sprang from the couch towards the entrance and Penny. As always she was wrapped in the breath-crushing hug her girlfriend was so adept at delivering, and the faint scent of strawberries. Moments like these were some of her favorites in their relationship, the simple sharing of presence.

“Are you alright?” Ruby asked as they separated.

“I am,” Penny replied with her typical boundless cheer, “despite Mister Schnee being more determined than average.”

Ruby frowned. She had promised both Penny and Weiss not to start anything with the CEO, but constant harassment of her girlfriend and BFF surely counted as him starting things, right?

“That’s not important, though,” Penny said, correctly guessing the smaller woman’s thought process. “There’s something I wanted to show you while we’re here.”

Ruby tilted her head quizzically as Penny handed her a warm coat and led her to the door onto a small balcony. The sun’s rays had faded, and the increasingly muted lights from the campus below barely reached the balcony. But above…

Ruby gasped at the dancing blues and greens. She had heard of the Northern Lights, but hadn’t realized just how beautiful they were. She was aware of Penny’s proximity, of the arm across her shoulders, of Penny’s waist beneath her arm, the lights above them, and nothing else.

“The first time my father woke me up, it was a night much like this,” Penny said softly after some unimportant length of time. “He said he wanted me to experience something more welcoming than a test cell.”

Ruby smiled. She had seen Penny and Doctor Polendina together, and was reminded of nothing so much as her interactions with her own father, Taiyang. The familial bond was far stronger than their differing composition. It was no wonder Doctor Polendina was so supportive of Penny’s choices.

“Ruby, do you remember what you told me that night in the meadow? When we found the fireflies?”

How could she forget? A lull in their mad dash to stop Salem, the calm before the final storm. When she had first confessed just how much Penny meant to her.

“I said you were just like the fireflies, because you light up my life.”

“I think you are like the Northern Lights, for the exact same reason.”

It was some time before either felt the need to move or speak again.


End file.
